Jail to open special tier for pregnant women

A special tier for pregnant women awaiting trial will be unveiled today at Cook County Jail.

Those inmates will now be housed together in one area specifically designed to meet their pre-natal needs, Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart said in a new release.

Included with a "Bright Space Room," where many of the women - after taking parenting courses - will be eligible to have "contact visits" with their newborns and other children, instead of visiting with them through a glass barrier.